Good Sperm = Good Smarts. (Dammit...Yet another thing to factor! lol)
( Just how, exactly, am I s'posed to be able to tell if I've caughts me some quality shizzle, eh?? Seriously! )
linkage :: http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/12/16/semen-intelligence.html
(there's a pretty-colored swimmy-sperm pict there, too! nifty!)
Semen Quality Linked to Intelligence
Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News
Dec. 15, 2008 --
Past studies have linked an individual's intelligence to his or her height, cardiovascular function and longevity, but now a new study suggests semen quality may be added to that list, since it also appears to help predict the level of a man's intelligence.
The findings as a whole suggest that both intelligence and semen quality are fitness traits -- characteristics evolved to promote survival -- that are influenced by genetics.
Other studies on twins of both sexes, and on adopted individuals, have demonstrated that, by middle age, a person's smarts are highly influenced, and at least partially predicted, by genetic makeup.
Brain activity and semen quality would seem to have little connection, but that's one reason why lead author Rosalind Arden, a King's College London researcher, and her team decided to study a possible link.
"Scientists know that intelligence is correlated with many other characteristics, but the reason is a puzzle," Arden told Discovery News. "We chose a trait -- sperm quality -- that seems to be quite unrelated to intelligence to test our general idea."
She and her colleagues analyzed data gathered on thousands of U.S. Army veterans enrolled in the Vietnam Experience Study conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in 1985. Out of 4,462 study participants, 425 provided semen samples that were scientifically evaluated at the time.
The men also took five I.Q.-measuring tests. Arden's team used computer analysis to study that data, along with the semen determinations. The researchers found that a man's intelligence positively correlated with three key indicators of his semen quality: sperm concentration, sperm count and sperm motility.
The findings have been accepted for publication in the journal Intelligence.
"Most genes probably affect multiple traits -- this is strongly supported experimentally," Arden explained, saying that we all carry genetic mutations at varying levels.
"Aside from the number of mutations we carry, their harmfulness varies," she added. "The specific mutations we carry are also on our lottery ticket."
This genetic "lottery ticket," as she calls it, may then lead to an overall level of fitness that seems to affect all aspects of a person, including brain and sexual organ function.
"Sometimes people are surprised that intelligence can be measured because it seems to be such a diverse quality," she said. "But beauty is a diverse quality too. The celebrated beauty of the actors Gong Li or Angelina Joli stand out, but their loveliness is not just in the nose or the angle of the cheekbones."
Like beauty, Arden believes intelligence is both a fitness and a summary trait, meaning that our perception of it is comprised of many different components. Braininess is additionally influenced by a person's environment, quality of education, health care, dedication to studies, accidents and illness that could impair thinking and more.
"It's crucial to understand that nobody claims intelligence is all that counts," she said. "Intelligence, like beauty, may be 'bundled' with avarice, vanity and deceit. Lack of intelligence may be 'bundled' with compassion, virtue and generosity. Neither biological fitness nor intelligence capture all of what we value and esteem about others."
David Buss, a professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, told Discovery News that the new study is "fascinating" and may be "the first of its kind."
~
linkage :: http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/12/16/semen-intelligence.html
(there's a pretty-colored swimmy-sperm pict there, too! nifty!)
Semen Quality Linked to Intelligence
Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News
Dec. 15, 2008 --
Past studies have linked an individual's intelligence to his or her height, cardiovascular function and longevity, but now a new study suggests semen quality may be added to that list, since it also appears to help predict the level of a man's intelligence.
The findings as a whole suggest that both intelligence and semen quality are fitness traits -- characteristics evolved to promote survival -- that are influenced by genetics.
Other studies on twins of both sexes, and on adopted individuals, have demonstrated that, by middle age, a person's smarts are highly influenced, and at least partially predicted, by genetic makeup.
Brain activity and semen quality would seem to have little connection, but that's one reason why lead author Rosalind Arden, a King's College London researcher, and her team decided to study a possible link.
"Scientists know that intelligence is correlated with many other characteristics, but the reason is a puzzle," Arden told Discovery News. "We chose a trait -- sperm quality -- that seems to be quite unrelated to intelligence to test our general idea."
She and her colleagues analyzed data gathered on thousands of U.S. Army veterans enrolled in the Vietnam Experience Study conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in 1985. Out of 4,462 study participants, 425 provided semen samples that were scientifically evaluated at the time.
The men also took five I.Q.-measuring tests. Arden's team used computer analysis to study that data, along with the semen determinations. The researchers found that a man's intelligence positively correlated with three key indicators of his semen quality: sperm concentration, sperm count and sperm motility.
The findings have been accepted for publication in the journal Intelligence.
"Most genes probably affect multiple traits -- this is strongly supported experimentally," Arden explained, saying that we all carry genetic mutations at varying levels.
"Aside from the number of mutations we carry, their harmfulness varies," she added. "The specific mutations we carry are also on our lottery ticket."
This genetic "lottery ticket," as she calls it, may then lead to an overall level of fitness that seems to affect all aspects of a person, including brain and sexual organ function.
"Sometimes people are surprised that intelligence can be measured because it seems to be such a diverse quality," she said. "But beauty is a diverse quality too. The celebrated beauty of the actors Gong Li or Angelina Joli stand out, but their loveliness is not just in the nose or the angle of the cheekbones."
Like beauty, Arden believes intelligence is both a fitness and a summary trait, meaning that our perception of it is comprised of many different components. Braininess is additionally influenced by a person's environment, quality of education, health care, dedication to studies, accidents and illness that could impair thinking and more.
"It's crucial to understand that nobody claims intelligence is all that counts," she said. "Intelligence, like beauty, may be 'bundled' with avarice, vanity and deceit. Lack of intelligence may be 'bundled' with compassion, virtue and generosity. Neither biological fitness nor intelligence capture all of what we value and esteem about others."
David Buss, a professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, told Discovery News that the new study is "fascinating" and may be "the first of its kind."
~